A Proposal for ROM Device to Prevent Contractures of the Thumb Joint Using Pneumatic Soft Actuators

Inhalt:
Hemiplegia may occur as a sequela of cerebral infarction and causes a contracture of finger. To prevent the contracture, it is important to move the joints of the hand regularly. A range of motion (ROM) exercise is highly effective for prevention of the contracture. The paper presents a finger rehabilitation device for thumb joints to move through the full ROM. Pneumatic soft actuators were used for the seven ROM exercises which are palmar adduction, palmar abduction, ulnar adduction, radial abduction, flexion, extension and arch motion. The angle of thumb each joint were measured with the test of ROM exercise for ten normal participants. As a result, the developed device provided more than 70 % of the target angle at three ROM exercises.